Kent Brown

Kent Brown led the University of Illinois Sports Information Office as an Associate Athletics Director from May 2000 until his retirement from the University in June 2023. Following his long career in collegiate athletics, he serves Illinois as the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics as the Athletics Historian, helping coordinate the athletics archive collection, assisting with the UI Athletics Hall of Fame and serving as a contact with many athletics alumni. Brown started his career as a student assistant in the UI Sports Information Office during the 1986-87 school year and followed with two years as a graduate assistant in the office. He began his full-time role in July 1989 through June 1996. He then was named sports information director at Kansas State University from July 1996 through April 2000, helping the Wildcat athletics department transition from the Big Eight Conference to the new Big 12 Conference in 1996. In all, Brown spent 36 years in collegiate athletics, with 32 of those years at Illinois. During his career in intercollegiate athletics, Brown helped publicize teams in two NCAA men's basketball Final Fours (1989 and 2005) and 19 NCAA Tournaments, along with 17 football bowl games, including the 1997 Fiesta Bowl, 2002 Sugar Bowl, 2008 Rose Bowl, and most recently, the 2023 ReliaQuest Bowl. Brown helped spearhead such initiatives as the UI Athletics Hall of Fame, which began in 2017, the Illinois Basketball Honored Jerseys and Honored Coaches programs, the Basketball Centennial celebration in 2004-05, and the Football Centennial season-long celebration in 1990. At Illinois, Brown helped lead publicity efforts in men's basketball for two National Players of the Year (Dee Brown, Ayo Dosnunmu), three Big Ten Players of the Year (Frank Williams, Brian Cook and Dee Brown) and seven consensus basketball All-Americans (Dee Brown-twice, Luther Head, Deron Williams, Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn-twice). With the football program, he helped lead publicity efforts for 1994 Butkus Award winner Dana Howard, 1995 Butkus Award winner Kevin Hardy and 2011 Hendricks Award winner Whitney Mercilus. At Kansas State, he publicized 13 national football award finalists, including the 1998 Davey O'Brien Award winner and Heisman Trophy runner-up Michael Bishop, along with Groza Award winner Martin Gramatica. He helped lead publicity efforts for College Football Hall of Famers Moe Gardner and Dana Howard at Illinois, and Mark Simoneau and Michael Bishop at Kansas State. During his career, Brown worked with Hall of Fame coaches Lou Henson, Bill Snyder, Bill Self, Lon Kruger, Theresa Grentz, Gary Wieneke and Itch Jones, and worked under Athletic Directors Neale Stoner, John Mackovic, Ron Guenther, Mike Thomas and Josh Whitman at Illinois, and Max Urick at Kansas State. He has been a member of the College Sports Communicators (former College Sports Information Directors of America) since 1987 and served on the Board of Directors for three years. He was honored with the organization's Lifetime Achievement recognition in 2023. He also was a member of the Football Writers Association of America, National Football Foundation and U.S. Basketball Writers Association. He is a member of the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Hall of Fame Class of 2024. Personal: A native of Hammond, Illinois, in Central Illinois, Brown was honored as the Grand Marshal of the Hammond Sesquicentennial Parade in 2023. Kent and his wife, Amy, reside in Urbana. They have a combined family of six children and six grandchildren while sharing their home with house-dog Wrigley S'more. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Champaign. X: @KentBrown / Threads: @kentbrown32 / Instagrame: @kentbrown32 / Bluesky: @kentbrown32